Denver ELEMENT - by, for, and about gay men!

At The Denver ELEMENT … WE LOVE GAY MEN!

And we want all of us to be as Strong, Healthy, and Empowered as we can be. We promote the journey of mental, physical, and social well-being for all gay men. We achieve this by providing opportunities for community building, personal growth, HIV/Substance use prevention, education, and the celebration of life.

Check out our Boyfriend University, Touch Team, Probe Community Conversations, and Healthy Relationships programs to see what all the excitement is about.

Whether you’re young or old … tall or short … positive or negative … pretty or prettier … there’s a place for you at ELEMENT. Join us in transforming Denver’s Gay Male Community!

The Denver ELEMENT - By, for, and about gay men

At The Denver ELEMENT … WE LOVE GAY MEN!

And we want all of us to be as Strong, Healthy, and Empowered as we can be. We promote the journey of mental, physical, and social well-being for all gay men. We achieve this by providing opportunities for community building, personal growth, HIV/Substance use prevention, education, and the celebration of life.

Check out our Boyfriend University, Touch Team, Probe Community Conversations, and Healthy Relationships programs to see what all the excitement is about.

Whether you’re young or old … tall or short … positive or negative … pretty or prettier … there’s a place for you at ELEMENT. Join us in transforming Denver’s Gay Male Community!

Help Wanted: Mile High Council/The Denver Element - Positive Impact Program Coordinator

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The Denver ELEMENT is seeking a creative and energetic individual who is intimately connected with Denver’s gay male community. The Positive Impact Program Coordinator will facilitate several small groups of HIV+ gay/bi men to help build HIV status disclosure and communications skills, and to create a supportive and empowering environment that result in a new social norm of reduced risk behaviors and reduced HIV infection in Denver’s gay/bi male community.  Extensive group facilitation, public speaking, and training experience are essential.  Strong knowledge of HIV and persons living with HIV is necessary. 

If interested, please email a letter of interest outlining your experience as it relates to this position, your résumé and salary requirements to sean@thedenverelement.com.  Submissions will be accepted through October 5, 2012.

The Denver ELEMENT Loves Gay Men

At The Denver ELEMENT … WE LOVE GAY MEN!

And we want all of us to be as Strong, Healthy, and Empowered as we can be. We promote the journey of mental, physical, and social well-being for all gay men. We achieve this by providing opportunities for community building, personal growth, HIV/Substance use prevention, education, and the celebration of life.

Check out our Boyfriend University, Touch Team, Probe Community Conversations, and Healthy Relationships programs to see what all the excitement is about.

Whether you’re young or old … tall or short … positive or negative … pretty or prettier … there’s a place for you at ELEMENT. Join us in transforming Denver’s Gay Male Community!

The Denver Element loves gay men!

At The Denver ELEMENT … WE LOVE GAY MEN!

And we want all of us to be as Strong, Healthy, and Empowered as we can be. We promote the journey of mental, physical, and social well-being for all gay men. We achieve this by providing opportunities for community building, personal growth, HIV/Substance use prevention, education, and the celebration of life.

Check out our Boyfriend University, Touch Team, Probe Community Conversations, and Healthy Relationships programs to see what all the excitement is about.

Whether you’re young or old … tall or short … positive or negative … pretty or prettier … there’s a place for you at ELEMENT. Join us in transforming Denver’s Gay Male Community!

Denver ELEMENT - By, For, and About Gay Men

At The Denver ELEMENT … WE LOVE GAY MEN!

And we want all of us to be as Strong, Healthy, and Empowered as we can be. We promote the journey of mental, physical, and social well-being for all gay men. We achieve this by providing opportunities for community building, personal growth, HIV/Substance use prevention, education, and the celebration of life.

Check out our Boyfriend University, Touch Team, Probe Community Conversations, and Healthy Relationships programs to see what all the excitement is about.

Whether you’re young or old … tall or short … positive or negative … pretty or prettier … there’s a place for you at ELEMENT. Join us in transforming Denver’s Gay Male Community!

The Denver Element Loves Gay Men!

At The Denver ELEMENT … WE LOVE GAY MEN!

And we want all of us to be as Strong, Healthy, and Empowered as we can be. We promote the journey of mental, physical, and social well-being for all gay men. We achieve this by providing opportunities for community building, personal growth, HIV/Substance use prevention, education, and the celebration of life.

Check out our Boyfriend University, Touch Team, Probe Community Conversations, and Healthy Relationships programs to see what all the excitement is about.

Whether you’re young or old … tall or short … positive or negative … pretty or prettier … there’s a place for you at ELEMENT. Join us in transforming Denver’s Gay Male Community!

The Denver Element loves gay men!

At The Denver ELEMENT … WE LOVE GAY MEN!

And we want all of us to be as Strong, Healthy, and Empowered as we can be. We promote the journey of mental, physical, and social well-being for all gay men. We achieve this by providing opportunities for community building, personal growth, HIV/Substance use prevention, education, and the celebration of life.

Check out our Boyfriend University, Touch Team, Probe Community Conversations, and Healthy Relationships programs to see what all the excitement is about.

Whether you’re young or old … tall or short … positive or negative … pretty or prettier … there’s a place for you at ELEMENT. Join us in transforming Denver’s Gay Male Community!

The Denver Element loves gay men!

At The Denver ELEMENT … WE LOVE GAY MEN!

And we want all of us to be as Strong, Healthy, and Empowered as we can be. We promote the journey of mental, physical, and social well-being for all gay men. We achieve this by providing opportunities for community building, personal growth, HIV/Substance use prevention, education, and the celebration of life.

Check out our Boyfriend University, Touch Team, Probe Community Conversations, and Healthy Relationships programs to see what all the excitement is about.

Whether you’re young or old … tall or short … positive or negative … pretty or prettier … there’s a place for you at ELEMENT. Join us in transforming Denver’s Gay Male Community!

Young gay men wanted for Denver Element survey

The Denver ELEMENT's newest program - Mpowerment - is in its infancy stage ... and they need your help in designing the best possible program.  If you are a Gay/Bi male 18 - 24, please complete the short survey below.  It's only a few questions, and will only take a few minutes to complete.  This will help Denver Element create great events that are relevant to young gay men in Denver!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/T6GZCB6

The Mpowerment Project is a program by, for, and all about young gay/bi or questioning men ages 18 - 24.  This exciting program creates small and large events and social activities to provide alcohol and drug-free alternatives and to get young gay/bi men engaged in our community.  Some of the activities might include game/movie nights, hiking or camping trips, talent (or no-talent) shows, dinner nights, or a number of others.  The overall goal is to help young men in our community develop stronger social networks that help support stronger and healthier decisions and behaviors ... and that ultimately result in a reduction of HIV in our community.

But the bottom line (cough cough) is that the program and its activities are FUN and EMPOWERING!

Denver Element loves gay men!

At The Denver ELEMENT … WE LOVE GAY MEN!

And we want all of us to be as Strong, Healthy, and Empowered as we can be. We promote the journey of mental, physical, and social well-being for all gay men. We achieve this by providing opportunities for community building, personal growth, HIV/Substance use prevention, education, and the celebration of life.

Check out our Boyfriend University, Touch Team, Probe Community Conversations, and Healthy Relationships programs to see what all the excitement is about.

Whether you’re young or old … tall or short … positive or negative … pretty or prettier … there’s a place for you at ELEMENT. Join us in transforming Denver’s Gay Male Community!

Denver Element: By, for, and about gay men!

At The Denver ELEMENT … WE LOVE GAY MEN!

And we want all of us to be as Strong, Healthy, and Empowered as we can be. We promote the journey of mental, physical, and social well-being for all gay men. We achieve this by providing opportunities for community building, personal growth, HIV/Substance use prevention, education, and the celebration of life.

Check out our Boyfriend University, Touch Team, Probe Community Conversations, and Healthy Relationships programs to see what all the excitement is about.

Whether you’re young or old … tall or short … positive or negative … pretty or prettier … there’s a place for you at ELEMENT. Join us in transforming Denver’s Gay Male Community!

Calling gay/bi men ages 18-24: mPowerment Project needs your help!

 

The Denver ELEMENT's newest program - Mpowerment - is in its infancy stage ... and they need your help in designing the best possible program.  If you are a Gay/Bi male 18 - 24, please complete this short survey.  This will help them create great events that are relevant to young gay men in Denver!

The Mpowerment Project is a program by, for, and all about young gay/bi or questioning men ages 18 - 24.  This exciting program creates small and large events and social activities to provide alcohol and drug-free alternatives and to get young gay/bi men engaged in our community.  Some of the activities might include game/movie nights, hiking or camping trips, talent (or no-talent) shows, dinner nights, or a number of others.  The overall goal is to help young men in our community develop stronger social networks that help support stronger and healthier decisions and behaviors ... and that ultimately result in a reduction of HIV in our community.

But the bottom line (cough cough) is that the program and its activities are FUN and EMPOWERING!

Denver Element - We Love Gay Men!

At The Denver ELEMENT … WE LOVE GAY MEN!

And we want all of us to be as Strong, Healthy, and Empowered as we can be. We promote the journey of mental, physical, and social well-being for all gay men. We achieve this by providing opportunities for community building, personal growth, HIV/Substance use prevention, education, and the celebration of life.

Check out our Boyfriend University, Touch Team, Probe Community Conversations, and Healthy Relationships programs to see what all the excitement is about.

Whether you’re young or old … tall or short … positive or negative … pretty or prettier … there’s a place for you at ELEMENT. Join us in transforming Denver’s Gay Male Community!

The Denver ELEMENT - Moving from infancy to adolescence

From Sean Wolfe, Program Manager of The Denver ELEMENT:

The Denver ELEMENT was started three years ago to start a fresh and new conversation around HIV prevention to Denver's gay male community.  From the beginning, our main goal was to help gay/bi men become more educated about HIV in a way that was relevent to them and to today's social issues.  And equally important, to help gay men in our community become empowered and loving and supportive of one another ... whether they were friends or strangers.

Funded by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), we created two unique programs to help gay/bi men become more knowledgeable of HIV and prevention, and to strengthen our relationships with other gay/bi men.  Here is an overview of our accomplishments over the past 12 months (July 2011 - June 2012).

Touch Team was our HIV Education and Outreach program.  64 community members went through a minimum of 8 hours of training to be educated on HIV and risk reduction.  They assisted in outreach efforts at community venues where gay men gather, and talked with gay/bi men about empowering our community and reducing risk of HIV/STI infection.  34 of those volunteers underwent an additional 6 hours of POL training to develop skills on how to conduct conversations with their friends and social networks with target HIV prevention and risk reduction messages.  Between our outreach and POL volunteers, we held 1715 sexual health and risk reduction conversations with gay/bi men in Denver.  These 64 men have expressed a dramatic increase in their self-efficacy and their confidence in talking with other gay men about sexual health in our community.  And after over 1700 conversations in the community, talking openly and honestly about HIV without fear or judgment is well on its way to becoming the new social norm – which has always been one of our highest priorities.

Probe Community Conversations are frank and interactive community discussions of current topics relevant to gay men’s sexual health. We held 3 Probe Conversations at Club M, with each one averaging 40 – 50 gay/bi men in attendance (with approximately 70 “unique” attendees who may have attended more than one conversation).  Topics were Busting The Myths of HIV Prevention, It’s Better To Know Your Status, and What’s Safe To You (Risk Reduction Options).  Feedback from participants indicated that these conversations were fresh and new … and way overdue.  We focused strongly on a “menu of options” available to gay men when it comes to risk reduction – and not a condoms-only approach that has proven to be outdated and ineffective.  Men of all backgrounds and experiences felt safe and comfortable discussing sexual health issues, even when they did not agree on the solutions or outcomes.  The conversations were very powerful and empowering, and they set the tone for ongoing conversations in participants’ everyday lives outside of the formal setting in which they were conducted.

Boyfriend University:  34 gay/bi men attended the six-week course on building stronger relationships with other gay men.  These men learned how to determine what they want and need from a relationship, communication skills, risk-reduction negotiation skills, and general empowerment factors.  When they share that information with other friends and social networks, the community as a whole is engaged in stronger and more meaningful conversations around the empowerment of our community and the importance of taking care of our sexual health as part of our comprehensive and holistic well-being.

Overall, we have seen a very significant improvement in the ways in which our target population communicates with another around our sexual health and empowerment as a community.  Gay/bi men are engaged in conversations about risk reduction.  They see us out and about in outreach efforts and know who The Denver ELEMENT is and what we do for our community.  Most importantly, though, is that we hear over and over again how The Denver ELEMENT has helped gay men find value and worth in themselves and in our community.  Not that we provided it for them – but that we gave them the tools and resources to discover it in themselves.  We consider that the ultimate impact on our community!

Our grant funding for Touch Team, Probe, and Boyfriend University expired on June 30.  Though Touch Team and Boyfriend University are no longer funded programs for us, our work will continue!

The Denver ELEMENT is honored to have received new funding from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), and continued funding from CDPHE to continue our work of HIV prevention for Denver's gay male community.  Our two new programs are Positive Impact and Mpowerment.  You can read more about both of those programs below.  Though both of these programs are designed for specific segments of the gay/bi male community, The Denver ELEMENT continues to support and empower ALL of Denver's gay male community, and we continue to partner with other agencies to ensure that ALL of our voices are heard and all of our needs are met.  WE LOVE GAY MEN!

We are very proud of the work we did with Touch Team and Boyfriend University.  And we are excited to grow and to expand our work with Denver's gay male community with our Positive Impact and Mpowerment programs.

Thank you for joining us on this journey!  We would not be The Denver ELEMENT without you!

Denver Element loves gay men!

At The Denver ELEMENT … WE LOVE GAY MEN!

And we want all of us to be as Strong, Healthy, and Empowered as we can be. We promote the journey of mental, physical, and social well-being for all gay men. We achieve this by providing opportunities for community building, personal growth, HIV/Substance use prevention, education, and the celebration of life.

Check out our Boyfriend University, Touch Team, Probe Community Conversations, and Healthy Relationships programs to see what all the excitement is about.

Whether you’re young or old … tall or short … positive or negative … pretty or prettier … there’s a place for you at ELEMENT. Join us in transforming Denver’s Gay Male Community!

Denver Element loves gay men

At The Denver ELEMENT … WE LOVE GAY MEN!

And we want all of us to be as Strong, Healthy, and Empowered as we can be. We promote the journey of mental, physical, and social well-being for all gay men. We achieve this by providing opportunities for community building, personal growth, HIV/Substance use prevention, education, and the celebration of life.

Check out our Boyfriend University, Touch Team, Probe Community Conversations, and Healthy Relationships programs to see what all the excitement is about.

Whether you’re young or old … tall or short … positive or negative … pretty or prettier … there’s a place for you at ELEMENT. Join us in transforming Denver’s Gay Male Community!

The Denver Element loves gay men!

At The Denver ELEMENT … WE LOVE GAY MEN!

And we want all of us to be as Strong, Healthy, and Empowered as we can be. We promote the journey of mental, physical, and social well-being for all gay men. We achieve this by providing opportunities for community building, personal growth, HIV/Substance use prevention, education, and the celebration of life.

Check out our Boyfriend University, Touch Team, Probe Community Conversations, and Healthy Relationships programs to see what all the excitement is about.

Whether you’re young or old … tall or short … positive or negative … pretty or prettier … there’s a place for you at ELEMENT. Join us in transforming Denver’s Gay Male Community!

Denver Element Loves Gay Men!

At The Denver ELEMENT … WE LOVE GAY MEN!

And we want all of us to be as Strong, Healthy, and Empowered as we can be. We promote the journey of mental, physical, and social well-being for all gay men. We achieve this by providing opportunities for community building, personal growth, HIV/Substance use prevention, education, and the celebration of life.

Check out our Boyfriend University, Touch Team, Probe Community Conversations, and Healthy Relationships programs to see what all the excitement is about.

Whether you’re young or old … tall or short … positive or negative … pretty or prettier … there’s a place for you at ELEMENT. Join us in transforming Denver’s Gay Male Community!

Meet Zach Smothers - Denver Element's Mpowerment Program Coordinator

The Denver ELEMENT is ramping up for their newest program - and in doing so, welcomes newest staff member, Zach Smothers.

The Mpowerment Project is a program by, for, and all about young gay/bi or questioning men ages 18 - 25.  This exciting program creates small and large events and social activities to provide alcohol and drug-free alternatives and to get young gay/bi men engaged in our community.  Some of the activities might include game/movie nights, hiking or camping trips, talent (or no-talent) shows, dinner nights, or a number of others.  The overall goal is to help young men in our community develop stronger social networks that help support stronger and healthier decisions and behaviors ... and that ultimately result in a reduction of HIV in our community as a result.

But the bottom line (cough cough) is that the program and its activities are FUN and EMPOWERING!

The Mpowerment program is based on a national model developed and sponsored by the Center for Disease Control (CDC).  One of the core principles of Mpowerment is that the young men design their own program and activities ... including naming it and creating a logo.  So, though we're calling it Mpowerment for the time being, be on the lookout for a brand new name and look for the program that is specific to Denver!

Zach Smothers (above) is the new Mpowerment Program Coordinator.  Zach will help participants plan, coordinate and implement activities and events, coordinate our outreach efforts, build relationships with community members and agencies working with gay/bi youth, and provide HIV education to our participants.  He graduated with a BA in Communication Studies from the University of Iowa, and served as the Mpowerment Peer Coordinator in Iowa City, as well as an active community advocate there.  Zach can be reached at 720-382-5900 or zach@thedenverelement.com.